House bill would keep Nevada sales tax break

WASHINGTON -- A bill approved Friday by the House to repair the alternative minimum tax also would extend sales tax deductions for residents of Nevada and a handful of other states that do not have state income taxes.

Nevadans claimed more than $500 million in sales tax deductions in 2004, the year the deduction went into effect.

Without legislation to extend the deduction, it will expire by the end of 2008.

Nevada Democrat Rep. Shelley Berkley voted for the AMT bill, House Resolution 3996, while Republican Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller voted against it.

Berkley said the bill would rescue at least 115,000 Nevada taxpayers from the higher alternative tax bracket.

She said other parts of the bill would be helpful in the state, including a one-year extension of the popular write-off for state and local sales taxes, and an expanded child tax credit that she said would cover an additional 110,000 Nevada children.

The bill means "real savings for Nevada families," she said.

Porter and Heller said their votes hinged on the tax increases that would be necessary to offset the one-year AMT "patch." The bill calls for about $80 billion in new revenues.

"I do support the AMT patch and fixing it long term. I just do not agree with raising taxes to do it," Porter said. "We have fixed it numerous times before, and this fix causes too many problems."

Porter said the Democrat-engineered tax bill ultimately will fall short of final passage and that there will be other chances to renew uncontroversial tax breaks like the sales tax deduction.

"I don't think Nevadans sit around the dinner table and say 'we aren't taxed enough,' " Heller said. "Only in Washington would you tie a temporary tax break to a permanent tax increase and call it a victory for the middle class.

"Instead, Congress needs to reduce spending," Heller said.